Nico slammed her head against the table. Rin's chewing was becoming obnoxiously loud as Hanayo tried to tell her to stop in the most polite way possible.
"R-rin…I think you…You know…Um…"
"What's up Hanayo? Cat got your tongue nya?" Rin giggled at her own little joke.
"Guys focus!" Nico raised her voice, startling the fist years. "We need to figure out phase two of the operation, I hope you guys haven't forgotten." Nico said the last part in a scary tone as the pair shook their heads frantically.
"No of course not Captain nya!"
"O-Of course not Captain N-Nico!"
"Good, good." Nico said as she retained the attention of the first years. "So now we have to figure out what's going on with Maki. She's still avoiding me since that whole situation, but she can't still be upset with you two." Nico assumed, in which the two replied with a nod.
"Yeah, Maki's fine nya…Though she does look at Sakura a lot during class." Rin remembered.
"A-And we believe t-that Sakura m-may actually like Maki, t-though not as much as M-Maki likes her." Hanayo added causing Nico's demeanor to shrink.
So she really does like this girl huh. Nico felt like crap. Why did this new girl have to transfer anyways? What does dating Maki do for her? Can't she see she's stepping on someone else's ground?
But looking at Rin and Hanayo she realized something.
"I'm freaking Yazawa Nico and I don't ever give up!" Nico yelled out, clearly gaining attention from the people around them. But she didn't care, Maki was hers. And everybody knew that. "So are you ready or what?" She said loudly, questioning her allies.
"Yep!" the duo said simultaneously. Nico nodded in satisfaction.
"Okay, then let's brainstorm! And Rin stop chewing so loud!"
The plan was in action. Nico knew that practice would be ending soon and her eyes met with her partners in crime. This was hopefully going to be more successful in comparison to the whole helicopter thing with Sakura.
"All right, good practice everyone." Eli said to all the girls who were heaving loudly, pretty exhausted. "With this much effort we'll do great by the time Love Live is here!" Nico heard Honoka cheer in the background, but ignored her as she approached Maki.
"Hey Maki," Nico called out to the girl, who turned around at Nico.
"What do you want Nico? I'm not really in the mood." Maki responded coldly, causing Nico to flinch slightly before she recollected herself.
Grabbing Maki's wrist, she stopped the girl. "Listen, I apologize for the whole 'crush' thing. I shouldn't have joked about it, and I want to make it up to you, so Meow-Meow—." Nico quickly stopped herself. "Uh, I mean Rin and Hanayo and I were wondering if you wanted to go eat out with us?" Nico asked hopefully.
She watched as Maki thought for a few moments, before turning around to face Nico with an expression Nico hadn't seen before.
"Y-yeah, that sounds fun. Sorry about ignoring you, it just bothered me." Maki admitted, blushing slightly.
Nico internally screamed and jumped around, but externally just smiled gratefully.
"Awesome! You better hurry up; Rin and Hanayo are already waiting for us at the entrance. I don't want your slowness to rub off on me." Nico teased as Maki rolled her eyes.
"Shut up Nico."
The group of four sat down at one of the booths. Nico and Hanayo didn't order anything since they had been eating fast food for the last few days and instead brought their own food. Rin, unsurprisingly, ordered something along with Maki.
"So how's life been Maki, I feel like it's been years since we've seen one another." Nico said the last part dramatically in which Maki rolled her eyes to.
"Good, I guess. School's fine, but practice is getting tough." Maki said bitterly.
"I totally agree nya. I've been so tired lately." Rin complained as Hanayo shook her head.
"But it's important t-that we practice, right Nico?" Hanayo asked, to which Nico nodded to, striking a grand pose, taking on her alternate persona.
"When you want to become an idol like Nico-nii, you must put in lots of effort!" She grinned widely as the dynamic duo giggled and Maki rolled her eyes. As quickly as idol Nico came, she was gone. "Shut up, you guys are just jealous since you don't have as much potential as me." Nico shot as Maki rolled her eyes again.
"You have the same amount of potential as this burger I'm eating." Maki said, finishing off what was left of the hamburger. "None," The girl grinned to herself, satisfied with her response as Rin laughed loudly in the background.
Nico fumed, trying to come up with some epic insult but to no avail. Instead, she just turned her head away from Maki and pouted, causing her to laugh, which was pretty rare.
"A-Anyways, Maki we were wondering…" Nico noticed that Hanayo decided to surprisingly taking the initiative of the situation.
"What?" Maki responded in a bored tone, but Nico could tell that Hanayo had hooked her.
"Uh…W-We were just wondering a-about…Well you k-know…"
"We were wondering if you liked Sakura is all." Rin finished casually, shoving multiple fries into her mouth in delight.
The three girls sat dumbfounded at the bluntness of Rin who didn't really understand what she just said until she had swallowed her fries. Nico watched her look at each one of them before making an 'oh'.
Maki curled her fists before standing up from the table, rushing out of the fast food place.
"Crap!" Nico muttered to herself as she ran after the first year. Exiting the building she saw Maki running down one of the sidewalks and dashed after her, zig zagging between different people.
After a bit she finally caught the redhead. Running up and down those stairs proved to do some good.
"Maki!" she called out as Maki turned to face her.
"What the hell Nico? What's your problem?" Maki asked loudly, anger clear in her voice.
"What's my problem? What's yours? You avoided me for days Maki just because a stupid question that, obviously, was a joke!" Nico shouted back extremely annoyed by the outcome of the events.
Maki trembled with anger as she looked fiercely at Nico. "I apologized, okay! And you knew not to press the issue any further, but you did anyways, didn't you Nico? Why? Well because you're Yazawa damn Nico and have to save everyone's hellish lives even when they don't want your help!" Maki screamed. This hit Nico, hard.
Was Nico really like that? It wasn't like she wanted to save Maki's life; she wanted to save her own.
"I'm selfish." Nico muttered quietly to herself.
"Huh? What was that? Would you care speaking up?" Maki's annoyed tone was clear but it didn't bother Nico at all.
"I'm selfish I said, just like you!" Nico yelled, taking a step towards the first year who was startled. "I don't want to save your life at all Maki! And you, you have been real selfish these past few days! Why were you ignoring me?" Nico's voice wavered slightly at the last line. Her eyes watched as Maki's face softened.
"Nico…Ugh I hate you." Maki's voice was soft and quiet. Closing her eyes, she spoke again. "I hated those few days without you. I didn't think I would, but I did. And the only one there for me was…Sakura." Fuck me. "I wanted you to come to me Nico, you know me, I wouldn't come to you…But I guess you don't know me as well as I thought you did." And with that, Maki turned her back to Nico and walked down the sidewalk, slowly becoming nothing but a component of the crowd.
Nico stared after her for a few moments before she dropped to the ground in defeat. Tears came to life in her eyes as they dripped down her cheeks. Her only comfort was the steps of people walking awkwardly around her.
"Captain, are you okay?" A familiar voice asked as Nico looked up to see Rin and Hanayo looking down at her. Their eyes were filled with worry, so quickly Nico brushed the salty tears out of eyes.
"Would one of you blubbering fools help me up already?" Nico growled in a joking tone, sticking out her hand, expecting the duo to help her out.
The two looked at each other, then back at Nico, then each other once again and grinned widely.
"Aye Captain anything for you nya!" Rin spoke in an attempted pirate accent as Hanayo giggled along.
"A-Aye Captain a-anything for you!" Hanayo repeated, surprising Nico with her decent pirate accent.
The first years both grabbed her hand and pulled Nico up slowly. She knew that her eyes were probably puffy and red, but Nico didn't care. Every hero, no, every idol goes through hardships. But in the clouds there is always a silver lining.
"Okay that plan didn't go as well as originally calculated," Nico admitted, sniffling. "But, two wrongs make a right! This third plan will be a success!" Her crew cheered wildly. They were clearly happy that Nico had bounced back so quickly.
But inside, Nico hadn't really bounced back.
Switching on auto-pilot, external Nico led the duo back to the fast food place to brainstorm; internal Nico was dealing with a battle.
"But I guess you don't know me as well as I thought you did." What the hell was that supposed to mean? Nico tried to decode the words within her head. Maki was the one who freaked out at her, why the hell should she be the one who approached Maki?
Maybe Nico should've known. Maki is certainly a puzzle that Nico was having an extremely rough time solving.
"Nico, Nico, Nico, Nico are you there nya?" Rin's constant shaking spiraled Nico back into reality as Nico grabbed her wrists too stop being shaken.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. What's up?" Nico asked. Somehow they had found themselves in the exact same booth as before, and Hanayo was scribbling away on the notepad.
"Kayo-chin has a plan! Isn't that spectacular nya?" Rin cheered excitedly as Nico nodded bitterly. Her other two plans were failures, and though the first one wasn't too bad, the second blew up right in her face. Maybe it was time to let the first years take over.
"Okay, what is it?" Nico asked in curiosity. Rin just shrugged and motioned to Hanayo who had finally stopped the violent writing.
"O-Okay, bear with me h-here." Hanayo started, holding up the notepad for the others to see. The complexity of it all didn't surprise Nico too much. It was Hanayo.
There was a drawing of Maki on one side, a drawing of Sakura on the other and a little chibi version of Nico at the bottom. These drawings were far better in comparison to Rin's.
Next to Maki was everything they knew about Maki, as well as all the information they had gathered about Sakura was next to her as well. Though there were a few more blanks on Sakura's side and some didn't really make much sense, yet there were still a few good facts.
There were also lines drawn between each person to assess the relationship. The line drawn from Sakura to Maki read: 'Possible Lovers' which made Nico want to puke. The line drawn from Maki to Nico read: 'Unrequited Love' which made Nico feel great about herself. And the line drawn from Nico to Sakura read: 'Love Rivals'. Hanayo was really getting into this.
"I put all the collected data onto this one page so we could review it as often as we can. It's important that we always check this over and add new data as it comes." Hanayo explained confidently. It really reminded her about how Hanayo changes when she talks about idols. "The lines represent relationships, obviously, which don't seem to be leaning in our favor at the moment. We don't know enough about the relationship between Maki and Sakura to make a perfect assessment, so I tried to make an educated guess." Nico listened attentively to what Hanayo was saying, making multiple mental notes. Rin's loud chewing didn't go unnoticed.
"So from now we need to plan about what we need to do, which is why I created the 'Love Bar' on this page." Flipping the page, Hanayo revealed a whole new group on information on Maki's likes and dislikes. Her favorite places, presents, time of year, animals, and so on and so forth. Then a large bar was drawn in the middle vertically, the top being 'Love' and the bottom being 'Not Love'. How creative.
"Right now Nico, unfortunately, were pretty low scored on the bar at the moment." Hanayo admitted sadly, making a small mark near the bottom of the bar.
"We're that low!" Nico yelped, really getting into what Hanayo was saying.
"Unfortunately, yes. That big blow up set us down a couple notches. But it did give us some important information if you digest exactly what Maki said." Hanayo added, pointing the pen towards a whole group of information at the bottom left corner. "We know that there are low chances that Maki will confess first since she said because she said she wanted you to come to her. Now this is great because now Sakura will probably be the one confessing to Maki, so hopefully if you get close enough to Maki, Maki will in turn reject Sakura. But this will be extremely tough." Hanayo's voice became wary near the end, filled with warning and treachery.
"Oh yes it will be." Nico nodded along.
"Chomp, chomp, these fries are so—."
"Back to the problem at hand," Nico was slightly surprised when Hanayo cut Rin off. Of course Rin probably didn't have anything interesting to say anyhow. "She also said that those few days without you were awful, so clearly she values your friendship to an extremity, and she probably didn't mean to admit that so it's good that we heard it. So take that fight almost as a second test, you will need to approach Maki sooner or later without Rin or I." Nico could hear Rin groan in the background, not wanting to miss out on the action.
"All right, so that's the plan?" Nico finished.
"Um…I-I suppose if y-you like it." And she was back.
"Yay Kayo-chin is back!" Rin cheered as she squeezed her best friend.
"R-Rin I was n-never gone!" Hanayo squeaked, waving her hands frantically.
"Crew, attention!" the slamming of Nico's fist on the table brought the duo back to the situation at hand. "We need to figure out how exactly we are going to do this." They nodded.
Nico definitely couldn't contact Maki directly. Even if she admitted she wanted Nico around, she was way too stubborn to actually let her.
"Ugh." Nico groaned, her head falling onto the table in a mixture of annoyance and tiredness. It had been a long day. It felt like the fight between her and Maki had happened hours again when it had merely been minutes.
"Rin has an idea nya!" Rin said happily causing the two to look at her warily.
"Rin the last time you had a plan everyone gave us funny looks for the whole practice." Nico reminded the first year. And Hanayo backed her up by humming agreement.
"You too Kayo-chin?" pouts came from Rin as she eyed her best friend sadly. Nico could tell Hanayo was cracking, but thankfully she held her ground.
"S-sorry Rin, Nico's got a point." Hanayo admitted, and Nico mentally danced around as Hanayo was on her side.
Rin groaned. "Give me a chance, nya! I promise it will be worth your time." Rin said the last part seriously and Nico and Hanayo exchanged glances.
Nico sighed as she turned her attention back to Rin. "Alright, I'm leaving it to you Rin." Nico admitted.
Rin grinned widely as she leaped at the older girl. "Thanks Captain! I won't let you down nya!"
Nico sat comfortably down on the bench, watching kids running around playing tag while their parents watched them from a short distance. The park seemed livelier than ever, which made Nico feel a little better. Only because if Maki freaked out it wouldn't be as bad as it would've been if they were alone.
Rin's plan was actually pretty smart. Hanayo would text Maki to meet her at the park so she and Rin could apologise, and Nico would be there instead. Simple yet efficient, why didn't I come up with it?
Hearing footsteps approaching, she turned to see the lady of the hour walking towards her. She had an annoyed look in her eyes as their gazes met, and Nico could feel the shivers running down her spine.
"Not happy to see me?" Nico joked, but Maki didn't really seem down for any fun at the moment.
"Nico why are you here? Is this a set up?" Maki asked coldly, looking around if she could see Hanayo or Rin.
"Yes but no. It's just me here, so you don't have to make yourself look like a weirdo." Nico commented. Maki stood for a few moments, merely looking at Nico, before taking a seat next to the third year.
"I'm not shocked you did this." Maki admitted, causing Nico to smile slightly.
"Huh, that's interesting. So did you want me to do this?" Nico replied, causing Maki to blush slightly. The redhead fidgeted nervously with the hem of the skirt she was wearing.
"M-Maybe…" Nico chuckled at Maki. "W-What is it?" Maki said in an aggressive tone as Nico just laughed louder.
"You really just don't make any sense Maki. That's probably why I screwed up earlier." Nico admitted, turning to the younger girl. "I'm sorry that I didn't pick up on what you were saying, and for saying some pretty rude things earlier. It's just hard to know what exactly you mean sometimes Maki." Gaining some confidence, Nico grabbed Maki's hand lightly and gave it a light squeeze. "You don't have to close yourself off so much." Maki's blush darkened as she averted her eyes from Nico.
"I-I…I'm not too sure why I do it myself Nico." Maki said, her voice becoming soft. "Maybe it's because my parents are never home, maybe it's because I never really had many friends growing, and maybe it's just beyond me." Looking up at the clouds Maki smiled half-hardheartedly. "I don't think I'll ever really know Nico, and I'm really sorry for what I said earlier as well. You're a really great person and I can always rely on you to be a part of my life. So can we just put this behind us?" Maki asked hopefully, looking Nico right in the eyes.
Nico internally sighed in relief. This was really all she wanted at this point.
"That really sounds great Maki." Nico smiled in return. The two girls just looked at each other for a few moments. This is nice for a change. "A-Anyways, that doesn't mean we can lose focus Maki!" Nico said, undoubtedly ruining the moment. She jumped from the bench and stood triumphantly on the grass. "Love Live is coming just around the corner Maki, so we need to focus! We can't be distracted by silly things like friendship and love and…Huh?" The systematic breathing coming from Maki surprised Nico as she realized the first year had fallen asleep. "Are you kidding me?"
Nico rolled her eyes as she took her seat back on the bench and scooted over to the first year, trying to check if she was really asleep or just faking it so she didn't have to listen to Nico. But with close inspection Nico realized she had really in-fact fallen asleep.
Nico then digested the close proximity between the two girls. Of course Nico definitely didn't want to do something stupid, so she prepared too scoot away until a weight fell on to her shoulder.
"Now you really have to be kidding me." Nico said softly as she looked at Maki's head lying on her shoulder. Of course Nico would have to end up in a situation like that, it was just her luck.
And she could've sworn she heard Hanayo and Rin giggling from the tree they were hiding in.
Never trust a pair of first years. Nico thought to herself as she redirected her gaze back to Maki.
"But I guess this one's okay." Nico muttered quietly, looking at Maki who was peacefully sleeping.
AN:
Okay guys, I'm starting to figure out why I'm having a rough time writing Sakura as this crazy ass overpowered self insert. And I think it's because Nico doesn't like her, and because Nico is the main character it gives Sakura the wrong angle... You feel me?
Maybe I'm just having a hard time lol :P
Hope you're liking the story so far! FINALLY SOME NICOMAKI AM I RIGHT? Though NicoRinPana is life goals, NicoMaki is still the intended plan and personally one of my more favorouble ships. But maybe if I feel like it I might just throw in a NicoRinPana ending because it's so amazing.
Review Corner:
1. Frosslass
I love NicoRinPana as well! Hanayo and Rin play off each other so extremely well and I really think that they had a lot of potential in the anime. Not saying that it wasn't met a little, but there could've been more. They are just a cute duo.
2. zurui yo
Yo Zurui! Yes, IRL if I had friends like Hanayo and Rin they would definitley be my wingmen as well. Hope you got too see about of how Maki was doing the last few days and that you continue to read and review this story :)
3. Nahoma
Look who its, my good old friend the grammar nazi :P. Lol just kidding, but glad to hear that I lived up to your expectations. I am trying my best to push out daily updates while still having good content in each and every chapter. I don't really believe a lot in filler chapters, so I want each and every one to influence the story in some way. Hopefully this is acceptable and there aren't too many mistakes in this chapter.
4. yzyr
Yeah, sorry about Sakura not being as hatable as I promised, but hopefully that will help the story instead of being dedrimental. Literally when I was writing about Sakura crashing into Nico I wondered about having her fall in love with Nico, but then that would get a little confusing lol. Seems like a lot of people are rooting for NicoRinPana, but I will be keeping the story to a NicoMaki. Maybe after this story is done i'll write a NicoRinPana :D
5. Dash24zappshift
Ha-ha I'm guessing your a My Little Pony fan. I'm no brony, but I'm no hater, so don't be afraid to express yourself lol :P i'm so lame. Happy that the friendship was real the last chapter. Anyways, this sort of has nothing to do with the story, but when I read your comment I instantly remembered this visual novel coming out called Starswirl Academy. It's a fan project and it looked pretty cool... Lol I have no idea why I'm saying this your comment just reminded me of it...
Plot twist if you didn't even like My Little Pony :(.
Haha, I'm lame. I'm just glad you like the story :D
Anyways, I feel like I'm not giving enough love to the people who don't Review but Follow/Favorite. Just know that I appreciate each and every one of you who take the time to just drop one of those guys because it really helps me out and gives me lots of inspiration to write more :D. And even the people who don't Follow and Favorite, just giving this story a chance is incredible and I am forever in your debts. But please, if you can, don't be afraid to write a Review or Follow/Favorite because those really make my day!